Anyone finish shift and not return to job?

bargainhound, RN · Apr 24, 2006

Lynn 1956, if you do the exit interview, remind yourself that you can be in

control of what you say...........you do not have to answer every question....

if you feel the meeting is too unbearable, you could also just stand up and excuse yourself. Another choice is to bring someone with you.....that would

greatly change how they speak to you. One other idea is just to have a

quick prepared written note to give them incase it is too unbearable and you

just want to get out of the room. You are not obligated to play their game.

You are in charge of your life. Never forget that. Do not let people speak

to you in demeaning manner. Protect your mental healt.

This is just one job......not your life.

juliej · May 12, 2006

I am a nurse manager and believe me, I honestly know how tough being a nurse is. If you can hang on for those last 2 weeks, you will be better off in the long run - especially when you are looking for a new job. Some places will let you "back date" your 2 week notice or let you date your notice at the beginning of the last pay period. Don't work a job you hate, life is too short. There should be something out there just for you. Good Luck.

Julie

Lynn1956 · Jul 29, 2006

Ancient history now, but I gave my 2 -week notice and was not scheduled for it, so I never had to return. The meeting suddenly evaporated, there was no mention of an exit interview even though I asked, and the schedule wench wrote "terminated" across my remaining schedule even though it was my choice, which she also explained to those who asked her about it. It was a nasty, vindictive thing to do. The DON e-mailed me wanting me to come back, and I saw the hospital administrator a couple of weeks ago who wanted me back (it is a small town), but I am grateful to be able to have other choices and to have taken them. It is rapidly turning into a dim and distant memory, and I appreciate the support here very much. At the time, the experience had me very beaten down, and I will not let that happen again.

Another learning opportunity...

juliej · Jul 29, 2006

I can tell you as a nurse manager, it is tough to have someone leave with just a 2 week notice. Yes, 2 weeks is the "required", but it still doesn't help staffing situations, etc. It also leaves your co-workers not very happy.

I would never (nor have I) written "terminated" across someone's schedule. At my hospital, if you quit and work out your 2 week notice, it is called "voluntary termination", if you give 2 weeks notice, but are stupid enough (sorry) to call in on your final scheduled days, it is called "involuntary termination"/"quit without notice" and is permanently placed in your employee record. If another facility calls for a reference and asks HR if you quit with proper notice, HR has the right to say no.

Julie:specs:

allnurses Guide · Jul 29, 2006

I worked at a psych hospital for a while and they kept floating me to the pediatric and adolescent units after I had specified that I DID NOT want to work in those areas. They would lie about the assignment, (to get me to come in) then pull me. They got my keys and a short letter of resignation after the 3rd time.

Thank God the psych hospital that I work at currently does not handle pediatric or adolescents below the age of 18. I have heard stories recently that lead me to believe that I DON'T think I could handle adolescents. There is a private psych hospital in my area that has adolescent units. For a while I thought I might be interested in working there, but recently I have begun hearing that it is a HORRIBLE place to work and to just stay the &*%$# away.

As for this thread itself... I've been in situations where I felt like just leaving my job and never returning... so I can relate. I'm glad I never actually ended up doing it, and my bridges with my last job are perfectly intact. If I ever want to, I can go back to that hospital and work outpatient surgery or something; I'll never go back to med/surge floor nursing if I can help it.

Lynn1956 · Sep 3, 2006

This is for JulieJ.

I can empathize that 2 week notice can be too short to cover for many managers-obviously that small hospital has different policies from your own, policies that were set up by a union and which I followed to a "T". However, it is good to know for other potential jobs what differences may exist.

swatch007 · Sep 3, 2006

Before my shift one day a nursing manager called me into her office whom I had never met in my 9 months of working on the neurovasc floor at a local hospital...it was my first job out of RN school.
Now, it was near Christmas and I was taking any and all extra shifts to make ends meet, got along great with the other nurses, the patients and I had a blast as well as getting their treatments done...everything was great! Which suprised me since I was so tired taking on all those shifts!
Well..this nurse manager was actually yelling at me for not comming into work all the time, calling in sick, not getting along with other nurses and patient complains. I was stunned! I asked her if she had the right nurse and spelled out my last name...that really ticked her off! Then it went from yelling to actual screaming at me! I told her I wanted to see these 'write up's' and my time card print out she had and told her about what I had been doing...I even admitted that maybe I clocked in incorectly or there was a mistake...but didn't think so because my paychecks were right on the money!
She would do nothing but yell at me...make excuses. Then she told me to kiss my ER preceptorship goodbye. That was it!!!!!!!!!
I told her very calmly...that screaming at a nurse before her shift began is NOT proactive, and that after my shift I was calling security, giving them my keys and badge, having them excort me to my car, and NEVER EVER come back again either as a nurse or patient!
I did my shift wonderfully despite taking a few breaks to cry...no one knew what had happened! I called security (I knew the noc shift guy in charge and he agreed 100% with me and supported my choice big time!) and he took my badge, keys, pager, and I emptied my pockets and all was good. I left, and have never returned! NOT even as a patient, nor my family/friends!
That nurse guarenteed me I would never work in nursing again if I left after shift...being a brand new nurse I basically was like "if this is what nursing is all about...I will consider my schooling a good experience and start all over with something better! You can have it, personally me...I wish to be treated as a professional, and if that takes somewhere or someother career...I am on my way!".
Lets see..that happened 6 years ago...and I am still nursing and now being treated like a professional. I have never had that probelm again!!!! And when I think back...that manager proably did call the BON...but, since my license has no dings...LOL, SHE DID have the wrong person!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!

I hope I would be able to handle this kind of situation as good as you did. But I am really afraid I might reach the end of my temper one day if I am barked at by this type of manager in spite of my hardwork and just choke or snap this person's neck. The problem is I don't cry.

wooh, BSN, RN · Sep 4, 2006

Weigh what's best for your career. Not giving 2 weeks notice (or it could be a month depending on where you work) could be something they say when called for a reference. Making it harder to get a job. A lot of places won't even say that though. They'll just give dates you worked there. On the other hand, if things are dangerous enough that you're worried for your license, it will be impossible to get another job if that happens.

Dianne6 · Sep 4, 2006

I would try to stick out the two weeks!

icugirl33 · Sep 4, 2006

Hi,

I put in a 2 weeks notice in my last job. With still a week to go, I was never came back in. I didn't like being put in situations that I felt were unsafe. I worked so hard to get my license and couldn't bear to loose it over stupidity. I now do Utilization review and phone triage PT(6 days a month). My only pt contact is my PT job as a Triage nurse, which involves triaging pts and sending out a nurse to further evaluate the pt. I'm making over 100+ a year and never have to put on a scrub!! I've only been a nurse for a little over a year,so that's a lot of money for me.

oramar · Sep 4, 2006

Yes, have done it twice. It happens way to frequently and it is a symptoms of how sick the profession of nursing has become. It is totally the fault of managment, rarely the fault of individual nurse. Have a decent position right now. Would not do it here, they treat their people half way decent here. They could do a lot more but I am grateful for what I have. I have never expected perfection. Just some sign that managment is aware that there is connection between how their nursing staff is treated and how patients are treated. Nothing irks me more than being hauled into meeting and having a peel rung over my head about patients safety and patient complaints in an enviroment where staffing is dangerously short, overtime is mandatory and contempt for nursing is the rule. It is enough to make anyone walk out the door that second.

PeachPie · Sep 4, 2006

I wish I had just not returned to my last CNA job. That's what everyone else did, mostly b/c they were lowlifes who were hired out of desperation rather than any skills. I did the courteous thing and put in my 2 weeks, but they found ways to screw me. I was taunted, the ADON had a field day lecturing me on how I didn't do my work ever and was a danger (ignoring the fact that her groupie friends talked on their cell phones all day and didn't wipe anyone down, often leaving them in puddles of feces). I was fired the day before my last day of the two weeks when one of the nurses caught me eating a granola bar in the break room b/c I knew that I wouldn't have time for a break later and needed the energy. The witch called the administrator right at her home (a measure usually reserved for people who commit serious offenses) and had me terminated. The idiots were shooting themselves in the foot, and I have the "uneligable for rehire" status that I was trying to avoid.